An interview is a conversation led by the evaluator with the intent of gathering data. Interviews can differ in terms of:

participants

• Individual: one participant at a time

• Focus group: more than one participant at a time

planning

• Formal: the interview was pre-arranged

• Informal: the interview was unplanned, perhaps happening unexpectedly in the field

preparation

• Structured: strictly defined questioning protocol, no deviations from the set questions

• Semi-structured: questions or topics to discuss are prepared in advance, but the conversation can flow to new topics

• Unstructured: the interviewer has no specific questions prepared

questions

• Open-ended: respondents answer in their own words

• Close-ended: respondents are limited to pre-defined choices

Note: interviews may not always fit neatly into these categories - they give an idea of the ways interviews can be conducted, but are not hard rules.

See also: qualitative data, qualitative data analysis

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